Songs of Power, Chapter Nine: Insanity beyond belief
A/N: This is dedicated to bant for being a wondermous newreviewer. Thanks, bant! Hope this is soon enough for you! Extra huggles to everyone who continues to read and especially review after my latest deviation from the Land of the Sane...
Disclaimer: Sarah, Mia, Ally, Ben, Lucas, Dr. Gonnal, other teachers are mine. Everyone else is someone else's. Easy peasy method: if you recognize, not mine.
Shout-Outs:
MuggleBuddy: Glimmer scares me just as much as she does you, trust me. She is evil... so, so evil... And she probably won't base what they read off of preferences; she was just asking so she could see if anyone else liked what she sees as "literature" as opposed to ".:censored:.", which it is.
Bant: I lurve new reviewers! Especially quick ones! I hope I was quick enough... Just don't expect it every update. Noooo, not at all...
The Fic!
In the med lab:
"He's regaining consciousness," reported John to Dr. Gonnal.
"You realize I've got a homicidal killer in my hospital ward? My god!" he replied.
"Well, the good news is that the psychosis may no longer be an issue. He sustained enough brain damage that certain areas, including the behavioral section, simply shut down and the healing factor doesn't seem to be affecting them. So he's either even more of a psychotic killer or fairly well-adjusted now."
"Good to know," muttered Dr. Gonnal, his head in his hands. What on earth was he going to do with a mass murderer, rehabilitated or not?
Sabretooth regained consciousness slowly. He had a terrible headache, and everything seemed fuzzy...eventually the room came into focus. What the hell was he doing in a hospital? And then he remembered. He had been attacked by that demon thingy, ripped nearly to shreds... It was a miracle he was still alive, healing factor or no. And that's when he noticed the oddest thing: he no longer had any desire to kill the world because it existed; quite frankly he didn't have much desire to kill anything. Then he passed out again.
While he was unconscious John and Dr. Gonnal checked him over for over-all health; nothing was found really wrong with him. The only major difference was the section of his brain responsible for behavior.
Half an hour later the large mutant woke up again. After introductions and a series of controlled psychology tests it was determined he was now more normal and certainly less deranged, and he was given full range of the mansion.
Sarah was in the kitchen eating an apple when Sabretooth entered. Her face reverted to shock, then fear, the bitter scent of panic suddenly apparent in the room. She bolted for the door, slamming it behind her and running for Dr. Gonnal. Sabretooth was left behind, frozen, wondering for the first time what the hell he had been thinking for most of his life.
Sarah broke into Dr. Gonnal's office as he was talking to several of the other students. "Sabretooth is in the kitchen! As in the psycho killer one!" she announced.
"Yes, I was going to speak to you about that," he sighed. "Sabretooth was found dying on our porch, and we took him in and gave him medical attention; that was two days ago. Brain damage attained during a fight with an unknown entity resulted in the removal of most psychotic tendencies. He'll be staying here for a few days until we figure out what to do with him."
"Oh god..." breathed Lance. He had seen files at the Institute detailing the high-profile mutants they needed to watch out for, and Sabretooth's file had been frightening.
"Who's Sabretooth?" whispered Lucas to Ally.
"I don't know," she whispered back.
"What's the deal with this Sabretooth guy?" asked Mia out loud.
"Sabretooth is—was—homicidal and responsible for several hundred deaths. He is related to Wolverine and shares similar powers as well as a long-standing rivalry."
"Fuuuunn..." moaned Ben. "This place is so messed up..."
"Yes, well, I expect you to treat our guest with respect. That said, you all have the rest of the day off."
As the students left the room a murmur started up among them. Speculation on the teachers who had yet to arrive, Sabretooth, their training exercise and the sanity of Dr. Gonnal widespread, those being the main issues of the moment.
Soon everyone was outside. Still winter as it was, the ground was covered with snow. (1)
"Never thought I'd see snow in a desert," said Lance.
"The Antarctic is a desert," said Ally with a roll of her eyes. "It's pretty much all snow all the time."
"Okay," conceded Lance. Silence fell for a few moments.
Ally stood up, stretching with a yawn before reaching over to Mia. "Tag your it!" she called, then ran away. Mia responded by chasing her, then tagging Sarah. Soon everyone was running around, slipping in the snow and trying to figure out who, exactly, was tagging whom and when.
Sarah was it and everyone knew it and was keeping there distance. With a slightly evil grin she unfurled her wings, stretching each one out eight feet to either side of her body, tagging Tabby. (2)
"Impressive wingspan, (3)" said Ally with a raised eyebrow. "But I think that counts as cheating. Some of us here aren't mutants."
"Or just have a really terrible mutation," put in Ben. "What can I do? Be cold on people?"
"I think it counts," said Mia. "And I can only destroy things with my powers, so it's even."
And so the game continued. So did the day, until we find ourselves at the next one.
"FIFTY! NIFTY! UNITED STATES! FROM THIRTEEN! ORIGINAL! COLONIES!" shouted Ally, running after Mia.
"Gah! I hate hate hate that song!" she shouted back. "I gotta sing something else… HARK HOW THE BELLS, SWEET SILVER BELLS (4)… nope… ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH (5)… definitely no… THE PHAAAAANTOM OF THE OPERA (6)… I HEARD THERE WAS A SECRET CHORD! THAT DAVID PLAYED (7)… AMAZING GRACE! (8)... THE CAT CAME BACK! THE VERY NEXT DAY! THE CAT CAME BACK (9)… damn!"
Looking over her shoulder at her pursuer she managed to run straight into a rock, knocking herself effectually unconscious. With a sigh Ally did her best to support the girl, dragging her as best as she could and beginning to head back to the Arizona Academy for Talented Children. (10)
Halfway there she was met by Todd, who helped her, the two doing their best to drag the unconscious body in-between them. It was not easy going; unconscious people tend to flop in awkward places, droop and hang there like a literal dead weight.
Sabretooth came around the corner of the Academy to find himself faced with two frightened teens dragging a less-frightened-if-only-because-of-lack-of-awareness teen between them.
"Look, I know you both probably hate me, but can I help you with her? Dragging her isn't going to help." He growled because, well, that's pretty much his only tone of voice.
Wordlessly Ally and Todd drew closer together, instinctively protecting Mia. Both had their senses hyper-alert, nervous from the proximity of the past killer. Sabretooth heaved a sigh, reaching up to rub the back of his neck in a care-worn gesture before turning to leave. Nobody would trust him more if he made the two kids in front of him let him help the second girl.
After a calculating glare, Ally stepped aside. "Okay, you can take her. Be careful with her." The last part was almost hissed, eyes narrowed with protectiveness.
Todd gave her a look obviously telling her she was crazy. "If he wanted to do her any harm us too wouldn't protect her much."
"Okay," sighed the boy, shifting to allow Sabretooth an easier grasp, surprisingly gentle in his hold on her. As she was picked up bodily he let go, reluctantly, shadowing the taller mutant, Ally right behind him. The strange caravan of people made its way slowly towards the Academy.
Sabretooth felt the (relatively) light body of the girl in his arms and worried. The experience was utterly foreign. She was so fragile, and he was perplexed by the surge of inexplicable protectiveness.
(1) It's Arizona; yes, it snows in Arizona. Deal with it.
(2) Wheeee! Alliteration.
(3) Stolen from Toy Story because I'm too lazy to come up with something myself.
(4) Carol of the Bells. Very pretty, not good at drowning things out. Unless its things in your head, because once it's in there you're stuck with it forever…
(5) A Christmas carol called 'Angels we have heard on high" that continues 'sweetly singing o'er the plains, and the mountains in reply, echoing their joyous strains! Gloria…"
(6) Guess. Go on, I dare ya.
(7) The Hallelujah song from Shrek
(8) Guess again.
(9) One of the single most annoying songs in existence. Do not ever—EVER—let someone sing it to you. It will recirculate in your mind for DAYS, until it has drained you of all life and will… and then, it will go, seeking another victim…
(10) Did it get a name yet? Never mind. Now it has one:)
A/N: I told you so. Crazy, crazy crazy… Though I did update twice in one day! Consider a once-and-only, folks. I'm still me, despite evidence to the contrary...
